No. 8 St. John’s tips Fitchburg to end skid

No November surprises here. After four straight tough-to-take losses, St. John’s High rebounded by powering past Fitchburg, 48-27, last night at Crocker Field.

No November surprises here.

After four straight tough-to-take losses, St. John’s High rebounded by powering past Fitchburg, 48-27, last night at Crocker Field.

Leading the Pioneers’ high-scoring offense were junior quarterback Andrew Smiley, who rushed for three touchdowns and passed for two, and senior running back Shadrach Abrokwah, who scored two touchdowns and rushed for 117 yards.

“After that October losing streak, we just had to come out and get a win,” said Smiley, who completed 20 of 28 passes for 205 yards and rushed for 165 yards on 13 carries. “Our whole offensive line really stepped up.”

Added St. John’s coach John Andreoli: “It’s a dogfight in our league and you have to win in November. We learned a lot of valuable lessons in the last four weeks and one was that we don’t like to lose.”

Neither do the underdog Red Raiders (1-8), who battled proudly and stayed close in the first half.

The Pioneers (5-4) were leading, 14-12, after the first quarter, and exploded for 22 more points before halftime on their way to a 36-20 lead.

After being stopped on its first drive, St. John’s scored with 3:33 left in the first quarter after a Fitchburg punt to the Pioneers’ 21. Smiley, on an option keeper, raced 69 yards before Elijah Kukta hauled him down at the 6. Abrokwah took it in from there and Jack Coveney kicked the first of three PATs.

Less than a minute later, the Red Raiders answered on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Connor Lemieux to Abbi Bamgbose, who burned the Pioneers’ secondary, caught the ball in stride at the 20, and sprinted into the end zone.

The point-after kick failed, however, and it was 7-6.

Smiley scored on a 25-yard run late in the first quarter, but Fitchburg responded with a 20-yard TD run by Dimitri Brasili, cutting the deficit to 14-12.

After Brasili’s score on the final play of the first quarter, the Pioneers scored the next three touchdowns, pushing ahead, 36-12, as Smiley rushed for a 15-yard score and passed for two more TDs — 2 yards to T.J. Kelley and 11 yards to John Giacoppe.

“Andrew has tremendous speed and we wanted to get him out in the open,” Andreoli said. “When he gets into the second level, he’s pretty dangerous.”

Barron Dandridge recovered a Fitchburg fumble at the Red Raiders’ 15. Two straight passes to Kelley, one for the TD, and Smiley’s rush pushed score to 28-12 with 7:23 left in the half.

Lemieux directed an 80-yard drive late in the first half, connecting on key passes to Trey Mahone and Anthony Diprima before plowing in from the 6 with 30 seconds left.

Lemieux scored midway through the fourth quarter, rushing from the 1 after setting up the TD on a 34-yard pass to Bamgbose.

Abrokwah closed out the scoring with a 10-yard run, his second TD of the night.